


Teamwork

by Cornerverse



Series: Hero Chat AU [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Episode: s03 Ladybug, F/M, Gabriel's decent, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Swearing, everyone loves and respects Marinette, mostly - Freeform, the rest of the class is there too but they don't have any lines, well the redemption already happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:27:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21572974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornerverse/pseuds/Cornerverse
Summary: When Lila attempts to frame Marinette and turn her friends against her, she doesn't expect one thing: Teamwork.Featuring: Everyone has faith in Marinette, Chloé being ready to throw hands(literally and metaphorically), Adrien giving Lila a taste of her own medicine, and a lot of friendshipEdit: Whoops! Added some more to this.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Series: Hero Chat AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1533146
Comments: 81
Kudos: 2043





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Some notes, as this takes place in the Hero Chat AU: 
> 
> -Alya, Nino, and Chloé were made permanent Heroes after Catalyst/Mayura  
> -To protect her identity, Chloé changed her costume and is pretending to be Queen Bee's replacement, Honeybee. Only the teammates know about this.  
> -The Heroes, both permanent and temporary, have a groupchat where they talk.  
> -Chloé and Alix know everyone's identities for reasons that would take too long to explain here  
> -Chloé has a long-term plan to discredit Lila in the groupchat  
> -Some episodes like Felix and Chat Blanc were different in this AU, and there's passing mention of that. 
> 
> I think that's it. So let's go!

Chloé had a bad feeling about today. She was pretty sure it was some sixth sense from being a Superhero full time. Something about the pressure in the air. It was buzzing with Magic, as if waiting.

There would be an Akuma today. She sighed and gave into the fact, mentally rearranging her schedule. She couldn’t really rely on Sabrina for that anymore, with how often Chloé had to disappear without explanation. How the others did that with things they couldn’t reschedule, she had no clue.

She rolled her eyes as she heard another one of Lila’s lies. This time she was telling Nathaniel about how she knows some bigshot manga artist. As if.

There was at least one small victory she got to overhear. When Marinette grumbled to herself about Lila’s lies, Alya didn’t rush to defend the liar. True, she didn’t believe Marinette just yet. But she was getting there.

All according to plan, honestly. A few more dropped hints in the groupchat about Lila’s behavior and outright ‘accidentally’ disproving Lila’s lies, and maybe they’d get somewhere. Honestly, the girl had helped dig her own grave when she got herself Akumatized over Felix, just as Chloé predicted to the chat a week in advance. It really helped move things along.

As Miss Bustier got their attention, Chloé pushed that thought out of her mind.

“I’ve graded your mock exam papers,” Miss Bustier said. “Most of you did quite well, some better than others. Before I hand them back, Marinette, could you bring your schoolbag to me, please? I need to check something.”

That…. Sounded like a trap to Chloé. But pointing it out would be suspicious. Still, she got herself on guard as Marinette handed over her backpack.

“Today someone placed an anonymous not in my mailbox,” Miss Bustier explained, digging through the backpack, “claiming that you’d stolen the exam answers. And it looks like the anonymous person was right!”

There were several gasps as Miss Bustier pulled the answer sheet out of the bag. Oh boy. This was going to be a hell of a day.

“But that’s not true!” Marinette exclaimed. “Someone must’ve planted that piece of paper in my bag!”

“But you’ve answered all of the questions correctly,” Miss Bustier pointed out.

“I did?” she said, obviously a little surprised by that. “Yes, but because I’ve studied.”

“Miss Bustier,” Alya spoke up. “Marinette always scores high on your tests.”

“This is so terribly unlike you, Marinette!” Lila gasped from the back. “You’re usually so well-behaved!”

Chloé looked over her shoulder to the girl at the back of the room. While her initial expression was the scandalized shock the rest of the class shared, there was a small glint in her eyes. Looking a bit more directly behind her, Chloé caught Alix’s gaze and gave her a smirk, as if to say ‘guess who’s going to get Akumatized again?’.

By the time she looked back to the front, Marinette seemed ready to murder.

“Of course!” Marinette snapped, staring Lila down. “You put the answers in my bag! You’re the ‘anonymous informer’!”

“I’m coming to your defense, and you’re accusing me!” Lila gasped.

“You can’t accuse someone without proof, Marientte,” Miss Bustier reminded her.

“But I’m sure it’s her!” Marinette insisted. “She stole the test answers!”

“That’s impossible,” she said. “Lila got the worst grade in the class.”

“Wow,” Chloé laughed. “Worst grade in the class? Sounds like Lila’s study sessions with Adrien aren’t helping at all.”

“Now’s not the time for that,” Lila said quickly. “But I’m sure I would’ve done far worse without him.”

Damn. Distraction wouldn’t help. Oh well. Nice to get a dig in while she could.

“Excuse me, Miss Bustier,” Adrien spoke up. “But everyone here knows it isn’t like Marinette to cheat.”

“He’s right!” Alya said.

“Yeah, it really doesn’t make sense,” Chloé huffed. “Why would someone risk cheating on a mock exam? At least cheat on a real exam. Or, you know, throw away the answer sheet. We took that test yesterday, why would the sheet be in her bag? It's ridiculous. Utterly Ridiculous.”

That got a round of murmurs from the peanut gallery. Everyone else seemed to speak up on Marinette’s behalf. Max quoting statistics of how unlikely the whole scenario was. Alix reiterating that Marinette didn’t need to cheat on a test, much less a mock exam. Kim and Nino vouched that she’d never cheated on a test ever in her life.

Their teacher, however, looked stuck. She couldn’t ignore the hard evidence of the answer sheet, even if she agreed that it didn’t make sense. 

“Marinette, Lila,” Miss Bustier said, clearly a bit strained. “Please go to the principal’s office until we get to the bottom of this.”

The two girls headed out, somewhat reluctantly in Marinette’s case. As they left, Chloé put her hand in her purse, letting Pollen give her a supportive pat. Seems that the little Kwami agreed that they would be needed soon. A glance at the three across the aisle told her they were thinking the same thing.

Miss Bustier started up giving them their assignment for the day. It was just busy work, something for them to do while she went to the principal’s office to handle whatever happened.

It was then that they heard screaming coming from the hallway. After more than a year of Akumas, everyone had their own fight-or-flight response. Most of the class froze. Alix, Kim and Max readied themselves, not knowing if they’d be called on for the fight.

Chloé, Adrien, Alya and Nino, however, were ready to sprint out and transform. None of them even pretended to make an excuse this time. Not with Marinette being involved.

Unfortunately, that got everyone else running with them. Chloé wasn’t sure if they were thinking ‘safety in numbers’, if they wanted to get the four of them to come back to class, or if they were spurred on by the morbid curiosity that came with Akumas.

However, when they got to where the screaming was, there wasn’t an Akuma. Marinette and Principal Damocles stood at the top of the staircase outside his office, and Lila sat at the bottom, clearly crying up a storm.

Once they’d seen the lack of an Akuma, most of the class hurried down to comfort Lila, while Marinette just stared in disbelief. Everyone demanding answers.

Adrien, Chloé and Alix stayed at the top, all too suspicious to leave Marinette’s side. 

“Marinette pushed me down the stairs!” Lila accused.

Everyone paused, looking shocked. Miss Bustier looked like she’d been punched. Chloé couldn’t exactly blame her. After all, she’d sent the girls to the office alone, despite their fighting. But she’d never expected something like this.

“That… doesn’t sound like something Marinette would do,” Kim said.

“She did!” Lila cried. “You know she hasn’t liked me, despite how nice I’ve tried to be! She blamed me when she got caught cheating on a test! And now this!”

“I don’t know dude,” Nino said. “I mean, Marinette’s never hurt anyone. She never even punched Chloé, despite how much stuff she’s done to her over the years.”

“Rude,” Chloé said.

Everyone gave her a look. Even Principal Damocles and Miss Bustier gave her a look, though they at least tried to hide it. Studying the current situation, Chloé decided that accusing Lila of outright lying wouldn’t help right now.

“Okay, you have a point,” Chloé rolled her eyes. “Marinette’s never decked me, despite how much I’ve deserved it. I don’t think she’s capable of pushing anyone down a flight of stairs. You probably just tripped and assumed she pushed you because you’re fighting.”

“I didn’t ‘assume’!” Lila exclaimed. “I felt her push me!"

“Maybe it was an accident?” Alya suggested, though she looked unsure. “Look, Mari’s a great person, but she’s kinda clumsy. If she tripped into you and you went down…”

“That is a good possibility,” Max said. “Marinette’s been very lucky she hasn’t gotten more than a bruise or scrape from her own falls. It’s was just a matter of time before her clumsiness caused a serious injury to herself or someone else.”

“See it was an accident!” Rose said. “You can’t punish her for an accident, right?!”

“We will discuss this further in my office,” Principal Damocles said, cutting off any further crocodile tears. “Once your parents get here.”

As much as Chloé wanted to see Lila try to worm her way out of her mother showing up, she reluctantly followed the rest of the class out.

* * *

They’d been hanging in the locker room, waiting. Waiting for what, exactly, well… that was difficult to place.

The Team looked more worried than usual. They weren’t sure which girl would end up as an Akuma. They’d fought Lila before, but fighting Marinette… none of them were sure they could do that. Both out of love for their friend, and because Akumanette would run circles around them.

Even Chloé was unsure of what would happen. Although, if Marinette did get Akumatized, she knew to grab the earrings first. The girl was lucky that Chloé had figured out everyone’s identity, because if Ladybug got Akumatized without them knowing what happened, they’d be screwed. Damn secret identity bullshit.

Without warning, the door opened. Marinette walked in, followed by her parents, Lila, Miss Bustier, and Principal Damocles. The group stared and watched as they went straight to Marinette’s locker.

“Open your locker, please,” Principal Damocles asked.

Marinette hesitated for a half-second, then opened the door. It wasn’t even locked, which was strange. The stranger thing was that a jewelry box fell out.

The necklace that was now on the floor was a very familiar foxtail pendant. Chloé saw Alya unconsciously reach for her own, as if to make sure it was still there. But this wasn’t the Fox Miraculous. Still, Chloé found it familiar for another reason.

“My grandma’s pendant!” Lila exclaimed, picking up the necklace.

Everyone gasped, looking to Marinette for some sort of explanation other than what was given. She looked back, desperate for anyone to believe her. But it seemed like everyone’s faith was wavering.

“She’s making up this whole thing!” Marinette exclaimed, gesturing at Lila. “It wasn’t me! I didn’t do anything, I swear! You know Lila’s lying, don’t you, Adrien?”

“Mr. Damocles, I don’t think-“ Adrien began, only to be silenced by the Principal holding up a hand.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” Principal Damocles addressed. “You are ex-“

“Give the boy a chance to speak,” Chloé scoffed.

That got everyone’s attention. She rolled her eyes at their surprise. And thought quickly.

“Adrien was about to say something,” Chloé said. “Probably how that necklace isn’t Lila’s grandmother’s pendant.”

“Of course it is!” Lila said. “It’s a family heirloom! My grandmother gave it to me two years ago!”

“You’re lying,” she said, leveling her with a stare.

“Chloé,” Miss Bustier said, her voice soft. “I know you’ve been… trying lately. But being nice isn’t just standing up for your friends, it’s standing up for justice. You can’t accuse someone without proof.”

“I’m sure she has proof,” Alix spoke up.

“Yes, I do,” Chloé said. “That foxtail pendant can’t possibly be a family heirloom. Because it’s from last year’s Agreste jewelry line. ‘Agreste’ as in Adrien’s father’s line. That’s probably what Adrien was about to point out.”

“Y-yeah!” Alya said. “It’s probably just a necklace of Marinette’s that looks like Lila’s!”

“No, it’s not!” Lila snapped. “Marinette claimed not to know how it got in there! If it was hers she would’ve said so! But this one is mine!”

No one really looked sure who to believe or what to say. Chloé thought of a few things, along with accusing Lila of lying again. But for the plan to work, she’d need something else. Because right now it’s just a vote of whose word.

This time she caught Adrien’s eye. He looked about to call Lila a liar too. Good. But not quite helpful. She gave him a smirk and raised an eyebrow, before flicking her gaze to Marinette. Looking back to him, she gave a nod.

Adrien had a particular face journey. Conflicted at first, then accepting that this could blow up in his face, but finally landing on determination. Lila had to go down, and he had just the card to play.

Checkmate you absolute thot.

“Guys!” Adrien began, catching everyone’s attention. “I didn’t want to make a big deal out of this, but given… whatever Lila thinks she’s doing, I have a confession to make. I’m the one who put that necklace in Marinette’s locker.”

There were several raised eyebrows at that. Chloé tried to hide a snort, seeing Lila’s expression as she tried to find a way to somehow turn Adrien’s confession on Marinette.

“You stole the necklace?” Principal Damocles asked.

“Well, no, because it’s not Lila’s,” Adrien said. “I noticed Marinette had been feeling down lately, so I wanted to give her a gift. I remembered that necklace from my Father’s jewelry line because Mari told me she’s a fan of Rena Rouge. So I picked that and put it in her locker as a surprise.”

The boy was making it up as he went, but damn he was a good liar when he wanted to be. Though they really needed to sell it. She nudged Alix with her elbow, a warning to wait and watch, before moving to play along.

“Aw, Adrikins, that’s so sweet!” Chloé said, leaning on him dramatically. “How come you don’t buy me jewelry when I have a bad day?”

“Because you already own all of my Father’s designs,” Adrien replied, poking her side and making her jump. “You probably have that same necklace buried in your closet.”

“True,” she sighed. “Still, you don’t get me anything on my bad days!”

“I think Mari’s on a different level, my dude,” Nino said. “Bro. You got her a necklace.”

“Ah-well,” he looked away. “Just- just trying to be a good friend, you know?”

Everyone looked so goddamn tired at that statement. As exasperating as it was, it did help to sell the fact that he actually had done it.

“I can’t believe you!” Lila exclaimed, stomping her foot in the beginnings of a tantrum. “Adrien! You know this is my necklace! I showed it to you last year, remember!”

“Maybe,” Adrien shrugged. “I think you said you had a similar one, but this one isn’t yours.”

“Yes it is!” she said, stomping again. “Mine is missing from my locker and she took it!”

“It’s probably a coincidence,” Mylene spoke up. “Your necklace went missing, and Adrien put a similar one in Marinette’s locker! I’m sure yours is around here somewhere!”

“I doubt it,” Chloé said. “If she did mistake this necklace for hers, then she’d be accusing Adrien of stealing it. After all, he would be the only one seen putting a foxtail necklace in Marinette’s locker.”

“But it wasn’t him!” Lila insisted, with anther stomp. “I saw Marinette steal it!”

“You know,” Alix mused. “You’re sure stomping around a lot for someone who fell down the stairs.”

Lila paused, then winced, obviously faking the pain in her leg. It was too late this time. Everyone saw that she wasn’t injured at all. That, combined with the fact that she was ‘caught’ lying about ‘Adrien’s gift’, and there was so much doubt. Suddenly, the idea of her framing Marinette for cheating on a test was quite believable.

Chloé watched the gears turning with everyone else. How Lila could do all this, just to get Marinette expelled. Everything she’d ever said was cast in doubt. And it was beautiful.

Honestly, Chloé was starting to like this ‘being nice’ thing when it had moments like this. Okay, only half of it was the satisfaction of seeing an enemy taken down, especially when it was part of a plan that said enemy had played right into. She might admit to herself that it did feel good to save someone with that planning ability. And some teamwork.

Right as Principal Damocles began to speak, all hell broke loose.

Scarlet Butterflies flooded the room, swarming around everyone. Most everyone got hit immediately, giving in and transforming into various Scarlet Akumas.

Chloé stood tall, an arm in front of Sabrina. If Hawkmoth wanted 'Chat Scarlet', he’d have to get through her. Every time a Butterfly hit her, she’d shrug it off, barely letting his words come through. She didn’t need Hawkmoth’s help.

Marinette seemed to be doing the same, shrugging off every Butterfly that came her way. Adrien helped, as they seemed to be almost avoiding him. Both kept an eye on Mrs. Cheng, as no one knew what kind of Akuma she would become in her rage.

Meanwhile, Alix kept her cool, and was trying to talk Kim and Max down from their own anger. Alya and Nino were in a similar boat, full of rage and betrayal, but able to shrug off the Butterflies. They had other ways to deal with things.

Everyone else, however, had been caught. They were surrounded, and Chloé wondered if she should do something. Ladybug had said she could use the ‘Honeybee went on vacation so Queen Bee is on duty for the week’ excuse in an emergency. It could provide enough of a distraction for Marinette and Adrien to get away.

She took a breath, ready to use that plan and transform. But then, the Butterflies disappeared. All Magic dropped out of the room, the pressure difference nearly making her ears pop.

“What the fuck was that?” Chloé demanded.

“Language!” the adults in the room all chastised her on reflex.

She gave them all a look, because she feels that a million Scarlet Butterflies swarming them, turning them into Akumas for five seconds, and then disappearing for seemingly no reason deserved a little bit of swearing.

After that little interruption though, everyone regrouped their glares at Lila. Unfortunately, it looked like she’d been given enough time to think of another lie, and was already starting up the tears.

“I-I’m so sorry!” Lila sobbed. I- I didn’t want to tell anyone because of… what happened in my last school. But I have- I have this rare disease that sometimes makes me lie about things. I promise, I so so SO promise, it rarely acts up! Just with the test, and the Akumas and Marinette being suspicious of everything I say, I was so stressed that it all snowballed!”

Well. Chloé had to give her points for creativity. And acting. Most of the group softened, believing her ‘disease’. She could already see where this was going.

“Lila,” Miss Bustier said, putting a gentle hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell us about this before?”

“I was- I was so scared!” Lila said. “When the people at my last school found out, they used it to bully me! They would be mean and steal my things and hurt me, but whenever I tried to tell a teacher, they’d say it was just my disease acting up!”

“It’s okay,” Sabrina said, ignoring or not noticing the betrayed look Chloé gave her as she went to Lila’s side. “No one here would do that. Not even Chloé! Right Chloé?”

And now their gazes were turned to her. Damn it. She tried not to glare at Sabrina for helping the liar cover all her bases. Instead, she gave a sigh.

“Even as a jerk I had limits,” Chloé said. “And now that certain people have dragged me into the good side, I won’t even think about it.”

Well, that was a lie. But it satisfied most people.

Marinette, Adrien and Alix didn’t believe Lila’s tears. And while the rest of the team seemed to buy it, they were a little more hesitant to go full force. There was plenty of doubt there.

However, Chloé was surprised to see Marinette put on a smile more fake than the one Adrien used at photoshoots. She forgot that miss ‘everyday Ladybug who is actually Ladybug’ can be just as good a liar when she needs to be, and even better at thinking on her feet.

“I’m so sorry,” Marinette said, her voice as sweet as ever. “I wish you had told me sooner! I thought your lies were just because you were trying to manipulate my friends, and I didn’t want them to get fooled. I’m sorry I added to your stress and probably fed into this whole cycle of your disease acting up!”

“I-it’s okay,” Lila sniffed, a small bit of her true confusion seeping in. “I promise, my disease is usually so under control! I haven’t lied in years! But as I said, all the Akumas and such…”

“I get it,” Adrien said, adding in his model smile. “The Akumas can be very stressful! So can ‘being the new student at school’, am I right?”

“That said,” Marinette continued, giving a look to everyone else. “I feel that we should hold a meeting to figure out the tells of your disease. You know, so you can tell us when it’s acting up, and we can help you figure out how to destress. After all, you can’t really just up and leave Paris to get away from the Akuma stress!”

“Quite right,” Principal Damocles said, taking control of the situation. “We’ll have a meeting to sort this out. Miss Bustier, could you take your students back to your class while I talk with Miss Rossi?”

“Of course,” Miss Bustier said.

“With all due respect,” Mrs. Cheng interrupted. “I think after everything that has happened, we will be taking Marinette home for the rest of the day.”

“Maman,” Marinette sighed. “I’m fine.”

“Let us worry about you,” Mr. Dupain said, pulling his daughter into a hug. “You almost got expelled!”

“On second thought,” Principal Damocles said. “I’m not entirely sure what happened with the Scarlet Butterflies, but given that it has something to do with the Akumas, I think we can give this class a free day. Miss Rossi can join her friends once our talk is over.”

As he escorted Lila out, everyone began rushing to apologize to Marinette. A lot of them were vague when apologizing, not wanting to bring up their reasoning for not believing her in front of said reason. Adrien himself looked clueless about that, but relieved that it had worked.

“Keep the Team in here,” Chloé whispered to Alix.

Most of the class went to leave, and thankfully Alya, Nino and Adrien stayed behind with Marinette. Alix dragged Kim and Max back, giving them little explanation. While Chloé told Sabrina she’d catch up later, after ‘talking to Adrien’, Alix convinced Marinette’s parents that it was just going to be more apologizing, and they’d bring her back later.

Chloé wasn’t sure how to feel about how well that worked. But it did get what she wanted. Soon enough, they were the only ones left.

“Good,” Chloé huffed. “Now, Marinette, you’d better tell them everything before I go ‘vibe check’ Lila.”

They all stared at her, though Alix looked ready to give her a high-five. Then the weirdest thing happened.

Marinette started laughing. Full on snorting cackle. And she just kept going, eventually collapsing onto the locker room’s benches.

Adrien followed suit, though he was only grinning as he dropped. Both looked far to relieved. Half of the group, however, was still very lost.

“I- I needed that,” Marinette said, gasping for breath. “I really, really needed that.”

“You can thank me later,” Chloé said. “Both for the laugh, and for saving your ass.”

“Okay, you four need to explain whatever is going on right now,” Nino said, turning to the pair on the bench first. “Bro. That’s your ‘model smile’ you were using. And Mari? I’ve known you long enough to know your ‘that’s complete bullshit but I’m going along with it because I’m trapped’ voice. So what the fuck my dudes?”

“Short version?” Alix said. “Lila’s lying about lying. She doesn’t have a disease that makes her lie when she’s stressed.”

“Her lies are targeted,” Chloé said. “Everything Lila’s lied about can be put in three categories; first, lies that make her look good. Things like being friends with celebrities, or cool skills she can’t show off right this second. The second are lies about disabilities that conveniently pop up to get her what she wants, like a seat next to Adrien. And the third? Lies about people who call her out on those lies.”

“She has a point,” Max said. “Assuming everything Marinette has pointed out about Lila was, in fact, a lie, then all of Lila’s lies do fall into that pattern. While it does have the hallmarks of being a compulsive liar, planting fake evidence like the cheat sheet and the necklace leans into premeditation.”

“Wait,” Kim frowned. “I thought we established the necklace was Adrien’s?”

“Keep up, Kim,” Chloé said. “It was a lie to get Marinette out of trouble because we knew it was planted.”

“Either way, I am so sorry for the lying thing,” Adrien said, looking about three seconds away from getting down on his knees and begging for Marinette’s forgiveness.

“It’s okay,” Marinette said. “I-I still don’t like lying. But this is… countering a lie instead of being a jerk.”

“So Lila’s just a manipulative bitch?” Alya growled.

“Basically,” Chloé shrugged. “I know the type, though me at my worst isn’t as bad as her. That said, knowing the type, I know there had to be build up. Which is why I want Marinette to spill everything. Assuming you’re ready to believe her this time.”

“Chloé,” Marinette warned.

“She’s got a point,” Alix said. “We didn’t listen to you, like assholes. Even if this was really a disease, you were still right.”

“Mari…” Nino began. “Have… have other things happened before? With Lila?”

Her earlier mirth gone, Marinette curled up on the bench. Adrien took her hand, but the girl didn’t even notice. That got Alya to sit next to her, a comforting arm around the girl’s shoulders.

“That first day after she came back,” Marinette said. “After I called out her lies, she confronted me. She said if I didn’t let her do as she wanted, she’d turn you guys against me. I knew you guys wouldn’t ever fall for that, but… that day… the Akuma was supposed to be me. I managed to calm down, but the Butterfly went for her after.”

You could cut through the tension in the room with a knife. Adrien and Alya both seemed to be displaying a new Miraculous Side Effect, as their hair seemed to fluff up like an angry animal’s fur. The others weren’t faring much better.

“I want to be the voice of reason here,” Nino said. “But right now, I’m going to actually commit a murder.”

“Not if I beat you to it!” Kim shouted.

“Why didn’t you say anything!” Alya demanded.

“Because we didn’t believe her,” Max said, taking his glasses off to rub at his face. “Given that we had dismissed her previous claims, it’s likely she felt she couldn’t trust us.”

“For the record,” Alix said. “If you had told us, we would’ve believed you. You might get… weird about some things. But even if we thought you were overly suspicious; we wouldn’t accuse you of making things up.”

The whole conversation, Adrien had looked about to cry. Honestly, he looked closer to a breakdown than Marinette did. At least her breakdown would be a ‘oh god you finally believe me’ breakdown.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Adrien asked, his voice barely a whisper.

“Because she thought we were assholes for not believing her the first time?” Kim offered.

“But I did, or didn’t or-,” he stopped and shook his head. “I didn’t know. I can’t give good advice if you don’t tell me what’s happening! I thought she was just- I don’t know! Like a tabloid magazine!”

“A tabloid magazine?” Alya asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I get how you’d see that,” Chloé said. “A few of her lies are pretty clickbait-y. ‘Look at Ladybug’s bff!’, ‘Jagged Stone’s cat saved from airport runway!’. I could see those ending up in some pathetic gossip rag.”

“Exactly!” Adrien said. “And you’re not supposed to acknowledge tabloids, because everyone figures out the truth pretty quickly while confronting it gets pushback. If my father stopped, acknowledged, and disproved every rumor about him having an affair with an intern, he wouldn’t get anything done!”

“So what you’re saying,” Nino mused, “Is that you knew about her lies, and decided not to tell us?”

“Again, I didn’t think she was this bad!” he defended. “I’ve been realizing she was worse than I thought and planning for that, but I never thought she was capable of- of all this! Besides, you guys wouldn’t have believed me anyway.”

“There’s a high chance we would’ve,” Max said. “You’re not known for lying.”

“Neither is Marinette,” he countered. “For whatever reason, no one believed her. All that happened was you guys getting mad at her for trying, and her getting mad at you for not believing her. If you reacted like that to Marinette, a girl who you’ve known for years to be sweet and kind, then how would you react to me?”

Everyone kinda stayed quiet at that. No one really wanted to explain that the reason they didn’t trust Marinette is that they thought she was jealous of Lila getting Adrien’s attention. In part because they all seemed to realize how weak of an excuse that was. Even if Lila really was everything she claimed to be and Marinette was jealous, she would never stoop to that level.

They’d screwed up. All of them did. The class was tricked and forgot to look further into things. Adrien didn’t know the whole story, and gave bad advice that made everything worse. Marinette forgot to trust them enough to tell anyone, even the person she knew would believe her.

Even Chloé could admit that she could’ve done more. Her plan to discredit Lila in the groupchat had been a long-term plan, after all. Perhaps she could’ve just sent a message of ‘hey let me vent about this lying bitch! Featuring receipts on her lies!’ instead of subtly dropping hints to contradict things she said.

“Okay,” Alya said, taking a deep breath. “I need details. Now. Let’s start with how you figured out Lila’s lying.”

“I know celebrities,” Chloé shrugged. “A lot of what she said doesn’t match up. Jagged loves his pet crocodile. Ladybug is so big on secret identities that her teammates had to be in-costume when they rented a suite at my hotel for a sleepover.”

“Chloé pointed that out to me,” Alix admitted. “We’d been talking and, well, things came up that didn’t make sense.”

“It happened on her first day here,” Adrien said. “After her ‘bffs with Ladybug’ interview, we met in the park. She showed me that necklace and tried to tell me it was really the Fox Miraculous.”

Oh boy. Both Marinette and Nino immediately grabbed Alya’s hands, reminding her that they were here. If they hadn’t, she probably would’ve gone on a rant and outed her identity because ‘how dare that bitch pretend to have my Miraculous! The Fake Fox!’.

“While we were talking,” Adrien continued, oblivious to what was going on, “Ladybug herself showed up. She was furious, really. Not only was Lila lying about being her ‘bff’ for fame, but she was endangering everyone around her if that info got back to Hawkmoth.”

That doused Alya’s fire a bit. She’d already learned the lesson about posting things that could put people in danger, but being reminded of that screwup seemed to hurt.

“I would assume that’s the event that caused ‘Volpina’?” Max asked.

“Yeah,” Adrien nodded. “I, uh, by the time I got home, ‘Volpina’ was breaking into my bedroom to convince me she was a hero. I mean, I don’t hold that part against her, because she was an Akuma, but still.”

“Yikes,” Alix said. “No fucking wonder you always look uncomfortable around her.”

While she could’ve waited to drop that bombshell, it was necessary. For Alya, Nino, Kim and Max, they were suddenly re-contextualizing every interaction Adrien and Lila had. Not just his reserved ‘model smile’ mode, but the way she clung to him and always tried to touch him. To the point where he once hissed and vaulted over a desk to get away from her. But they didn’t notice, because they didn’t see Lila as a threat.

“Next time she tries to grab you, deck her,” Kim said.

“Or ask us for help?” Nino said, offering a slightly less violent option.

“So we can deck her,” Alya said, much to her boyfriend’s exasperation.

“Thanks, guys,” Adrien sighed.

“Look on the bright side,” Chloé said. “Since you refuse to bring that whole mess up to your father, you can at least use Lila’s so-called ‘disease’ to keep her away from you. Just tell Gabriel about it, and how if her ‘disease’ could almost get Marinette expelled, imagine the scandal she could cause for the brand!”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he nodded.

“About that first day,” Marinette said. “I was suspicious of Lila anyway, so I kinda listened in on you talking in the library. And I saw her steal your book.”

“Wait,” he frowned. “She stole it?”

“What book?” Alix asked.

“Hold on,” Chloé frowned. “Is it that book your dad was upset about you losing?”

“It was,” Adrien said. “I didn’t know she stole it. I thought I just lost it like a complete tool.”

"Sorry,” Marinette said. “But I saw her steal it, so I followed her to try and get it. Get it back I mean! For you! But the point is, that I saw Lila buy that necklace and then the whole thing in the park. I was totally going to tell you about her stealing the book and buying the necklace to fool you, but Ladybug showed up first!”

“I assume once you knew about that lie,” Max mused, “It was fairly easy to distrust her and look into her other lies. Especially as you know a few of the celebrities she talks about. Which we all happened to forget. Like idiots.”

“Any chance we’re not dumb and Lila has some Magic powers?” Kim sighed.

“Even if she did, we’re still responsible,” Alya said. “I’ve spent way too much time thinking about that. But if she does have some Magic, it only made us trust her and take her at face value. Nothing made us act like we did.”

“I’d believe the Magic angle a little,” Chloé mused. “Between the Miraculous and my bracelet, it’s possible. It would make sense on why people forget that Marinette would know for a fact that Jagged Stone has a crocodile, not a kitten.”

“Don’t remind me about the crocodile,” Nino groaned.

“So what’s the plan now?” Adrien asked. “I had a few ideas, but we’re going to tell the rest of the class and the teachers, right? Even if- fuck I’m going to sound hypocritical with my last round of advice. Even if we know, everyone else can still be manipulated.”

“I want to,” Marinette said. “But given everything, I don’t know if it’ll work. It’s lucky you guys believe me. But while Lila’s lies can be disproved, she’s better at manipulating the situation.”

“I agree,” Max said. “If we expose her or get her expelled, she’ll just start over again in a new school. She’ll be someone else’s problem.”

“I’d ask if that’s good enough,” Alix sighed. “But I know you guys would all want to ‘play hero’ and keep everyone safe.”

“I could do something on my blog,” Alya said. “An article about Lila’s lies and how people shouldn’t trust her. Not to stroke my own ego, but the Ladyblog is pretty popular. It would get the word out before she has a chance to lie to new people!”

“Bad idea,” Nino said. “Not that I don’t think it’ll work, but that could backfire on you. It might be counted as cyberbullying or harassment, even if it’s all true.”

“There has to be something” Adrien sighed.

“Couldn’t we just tell her mom?” Kim asked.

The group stopped to stare at him, just blinking in surprise. Kim only shrugged.

“Going straight for the throat,” Alix said, a somewhat proud grin on her face. “Brutal. I love it!”

“That might actually work,” Max said.

“Really?” Kim asked. “Because I’m going to be honest, I did not expect to be the one to come up with the plan!”

“Really,” Marinette confirmed. “It’s perfect. If we tell her mom, then even if she gets expelled and transfers, her mom can warn the staff at her new school about her ‘habits’. If she tries to start again, her new teachers can shut it down!”

“Not to mention the wrath of a mother,” Alya said. “Detention or getting expelled is one thing, but whatever punishment her mom gives her will be so much worse. Disappointment. A lack of trust for years to come. Oh boy that’s terrifying.”

“It might not be that easy,” Chloé mused.

“What do you mean?” Nino asked.

“Lila was out of school for months after Volpina,” she explained. “We know she wasn’t traveling, just hanging out here in Paris. Honestly, until she returned, I thought she was just so ashamed of being Akumatized that she transferred to another school. But since she was still enrolled here, where did her mother think she was?”

“That’s a good question,” Adrien mused. “Maybe it’s just because my father is very strict about my scheduling and panics when I disappear, but I can’t imagine her mom not knowing where she was.”

“That’s not just a you thing,” Alix said. “Sure, your dad’s super strict. But if my dad found out I skipped school for more than a ‘mental health day’? Yeah he’d be pissed. I can’t even imagine how much trouble I’d be if I was skipping for months!”

“Exactly,” Chloé said. “So either Lila’s mother doesn’t care about where she was, and telling her about Lila’s lies wouldn’t help as she doesn’t care in the first place. Or Lila has her mother convinced she’s a perfect, honest little angel and believes her when she makes up a lie about school being closed or something.”

“Either one of those situations is a big yikes, my dude,” Nino said.

They all paused to debate about that. As terrible as Lila was, and as much as she still deserved consequences, there was a chance that telling her mother was too far in an entirely different way.

“Okay,” Marinette sighed. “Here’s the plan. For now, we keep our friends close and enemies closer. We can’t let everyone be manipulated, but calling her out would be bad right now, even if we can get more people to believe us.”

“Aren’t we back to my bad advice?” Adrien asked.

“Sort of,” she admitted. “But this time we can combat it. We need a while to gather evidence of her lies. Any time she lies, dispute it, and then play along with her ‘disease’. Ask if she’s stressed or something, why is her ‘disease’ acting up so much?”

“Was that your plan when you ‘apologized’ earlier?” Alya asked.

“Subtle plan there,” Alix said.

“But now it’s different,” Marinette said. “We can gather evidence, record her lies. Find irrefutable proof that she can’t lie her way out of.”

“I can help with the recording part,” Max said, gently patting his backpack. “I usually turn off Markov’s recording abilities when we’re at school, out of a respect for privacy. But I believe this qualifies as a reason to keep him running.”

A series of happy beeps came from the backpack, reminding everyone that there was technically another ‘person’ in the room.”

“We’re also going to keep an eye on her, right?” Kim asked. “Keep Lila away from Mari and Adrien?”

“Absolutely,” Adrien said, gently taking Marinette’s face and turning her to face him. “You’re going to tell us if she does anything else this time, right Pri- uh, Mini Macaron?”

“’Mini Macaron’?” Nino snickered. “Bro.”

“What?” he wondered. “She’s small, a baker, and very sweet.”

He seemed to be the only one not to notice the red-faced sputtering that Marinette made at that compliment. As Adrien looked at her, still in serious mode, the girl swallowed her nerves.

“O-okay,” Marinette agreed. “If I say-if she does- If Lila comes after me again, I’ll say something.”

“Good,” Adrien grinned. “Because we’re forming a ‘Protect Marinette’ squad.”

“Oh boy,” Chloé smirked. “You thinking of being the ‘Everyday Chat Noir’ to her ‘Everyday Ladybug’?”

That got the pair stammering for several reasons. Chloé looked over to Alix, hoping she could add fuel to the fire.

“If we’re all part of the ‘Team’,” Alix grinned. “Then that makes all of us ‘everyday heroes’!

And there it was. A look of panic on all of them. And yet, none of them connected the dots. Chloé wasn’t sure if that was fun or frustrating.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mean to add more to this but... it wouldn't leave me alone!
> 
> Side note: There's a quick mention of Felix in this and I want to be clear that the Felix Episode was entirely rewritten in this AU and Felix is more like the PV/Fanon one.

“Hello, Adrien!”

Adrien practically jumped to the other side of the park bench as Lila sat down beside him. While her smile held thinly-veiled fury, at least she didn’t cling to him. Still, perhaps he should go with Felix’s suggestion of a restraining order on her.

“Hi,” Adrien greeted, having already lost his patience. “What are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to talk,” Lila said, false innocence dripping in her voice. “About that whole necklace debacle at school.”

“Oh, right,” he said. “My gift for Marinette. You know, after all the drama of you accusing her of stealing it, I didn’t notice that you walked out of the locker room with the necklace anyway. Though I suppose you can keep it. You must be having such a hard time with your disease! I already decided to get Marinette another one. Not a fake Fox Miraculous this time, though.”

He watched as her expression darkened. Part of him wanted to yell at her, call her out, and so many other things. But, well, that wouldn’t work with her. He had been right about that, even if he’d underestimated how dangerous she was.

So, instead of that, Adrien stayed calm. He tried to channel the way his father and Nathalie would handle someone who had angered them. Glaring back, he waited for her to try something.

“We’re not around them right now,” Lila said. “So drop the act. We both know you’re lying to protect her. I just want to know why?”

“I told you already,” Adrien shrugged. “We could be friends, as long as you don’t hurt the people I love. And yet, you pulled this.”

“Are you seriously admitting that you love her?” she almost laughed. “It’s almost cute how you’ve fallen for her tricks. She just wants to use you, Adrien! If she gets close to you, you can easily help her get into the industry! It’s all an act!”

“That’s a little hypocritical, don’t you think?” he replied. “Considering you’ve tried to use your ‘celebrity connections’ to get to me.”

Adrien ignored the way he bristled at that accusation. Marinette was too kind, sweet and honest to do that. She went out of her way to be like that to everyone, not just him. There was even the time she gave up credit just to make him happy. Something he found out after confronting Nathalie about the signature on the scarf he’d gotten as a birthday present.

In fact, Marinette would probably be offended at the favoritism. With all the hard work she put in, getting her dream through being his friend would hurt her more than help her. Good thing Gabriel wasn’t known for favoritism.

Swallowing down the instinct to hiss at her, quite literally thanks to the Black Cat Miraculous, he leveled her with a glare worthy of the Agreste name.

“Marinette is my friend,” Adrien stated. “So are people like Kagami, Nino, Chloé, Alya, and the rest of our classmates. I looked past your lies when it was harmless stories about celebrities. I gave you a second chance after you got Kagami Akumatized, and a third after learning about what you did that day you became Miraculer.”

“It’s not my fault Chloé’s a bully!” Lila defended. “I was trying to be nice but she threw that in my face! And how exactly am I responsible for Kagami being too jealous to even see a picture of you with another girl?“

“Don’t even bother,” he sighed. “We both know that you know exactly what you’re doing. Besides, even if those had been accidents, you used up the rest of your chances today on Marinette. And I’m done with it.”

“What do you mean ‘you’re done’?” she demanded.

“Exactly that,” he said. “I already gave you the chance to come clean and stop lying, and maybe we could have been friends. Well, you told Marinette that you were at war. And I know what side of that I’m on. So no more chances.”

“You don’t want me as your enemy, Adrien,” she warned. “You know the saying. ‘You may have won the battle, but you won’t win the war’. I have more tricks up my sleeve than you realize.”

“So do I,” he said.

That seemed to scare her a little. Not the threat, really. That was something she seemed to be underestimating.

However, Adrien’s expression was what unnerved her. A maniacal, almost feral grin. It was much more suited for an angry Chat Noir than it was on the face of the gentleman model. The juxtaposition would shock anyone.

As he noticed Nathalie walking toward them, fiddling with her tablet, Adrien pulled the expression back to the cold glare. Then he stood up from the bench, smoothing out his outfit.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have a shoot to get back to,” Adrien said, waving her off. “I’d say good luck, but I don't have the best record with 'luck'.”

He walked past Nathalie and back to the cameras. It would probably be better if he ignored any sounds coming from their conversation. He really didn’t want her whining to distract him today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hm... What does Nathalie have to talk to Lila about...
> 
> >:3c


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Featuring: Gabriel being a decent parent and reconsidering some of his life choices!
> 
> (Also this is the first time I've written Gabriel since Season 1 era and it's weird man)

“What do you mean ‘fired’?!” Lila demanded.

Gabriel stared at the girl on the other end of the video call. She was clearly furious, and quickly thinking of how to turn this around. 

“There are only so many definitions,” Gabriel said. “Though I should clarify that I’m not talking about the color of your jacket.”

Her face turned red as she sputtered for a response. The camera shifted a little, likely Nathalie trying her best to keep the blank expression instead of laughing as she held the tablet up.

“We had a deal!” Lila snapped. “You said you’d hold up on your end.”

“And yet, you’ve failed,” Gabriel replied. “You were supposed to be Adrien’s friend, and alert me to any bad influences. You cannot do that if he doesn’t trust you, and if you give me false information.”

To her credit, the girl is good at acting sheepish. It was almost believable, not that it mattered. But the empathy powers of the Butterfly Miraculous let him feel her emotions, even from this distance.

And he could feel no guilt or remorse. Not even sadness at losing a friend’s trust. Just annoyance at this setback.

“Is this about what happened in class today?” Lila asked. “Adrien wouldn’t really break off our friendship over one little disagreement, would he? Especially not over a disability, right? Or is it that you’re too worried that I might cause a scene if I were one of your models?”

“This has nothing to do with your lying,” Gabriel replied, shutting down that argument121. “I know my son. Usually, he would either be hiding your issues from me in case it made me want to keep you away from him, or he would try to talk me into giving you a chance. For whatever reasons, you have made him uncomfortable enough that he’s using this as an escape.”

Some small part in the back of his mind felt a bit of guilt at that. He did know Adrien, though not as well as he thought lately. All of this, between Emilie’s ‘disappearance’ to Hawkmoth, had been hard on both of them, straining the relationship. He was aware that things in this family needed fixed, but had resolved to do that after he got Emilie back.

And yet, this seemed like quite a wake-up call. Lila Rossi would have to have done something particularly horrendous for Adrien to want so bad to get away from her that he’d use her so-called 'disease' as an excuse to keep her away. But that was the problem itself: using the excuse. He didn’t trust his own father to back him up on whatever the girl had done to make him feel that way.

Perhaps he should focus on things more himself. While Adrien’s friends were…. Quite unruly, they had yet to be ‘bad’ influences to the point that intervention was needed. Encouraging him to slack off on his piano practice in favor of a few video games wasn’t nearly as bad as what some teenagers could be encouraging.

And then there was the subject of Marinette Dupain-Cheng. According to Lila Rossi, she was just manipulating Adrien to further her career. And yet….

The girl was talented in design. She already had his attention, and Audrey Bourgeois had offered her an internship in New York. She’s also impressed a few celebrities with her talents, most notably Jagged Stone, who practically called the girl his niece now.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had no reason to use Adrien to further her career. Gabriel already knew that if he didn’t snatch her up, one of his rivals in the industry would. Or worse, she would go on to be worthy competition.

Not to mention the things he learned through the Miraculous, both with the empathy powers and by seeing her in action when caught in an Akuma attack. She was honest, determined, creative, and good at leading a team.

She would make quite the Akuma. Possibly enough to finally end this. Yet now he wondered if that was a good idea.

He already knew there was a chance Adrien wouldn’t forgive him for being Hawkmoth, but he always assured himself that Adrien would understand his motive. Yet whatever he would have to do to finally break Marinette Dupain-Cheng enough to Akumatize her, well, he knew Adrien wouldn’t see it as a necessary evil. And neither would Emilie, for that matter.

Gabriel had a lot of work to do on trying to fix the relationship with Adrien. And the first step in that, was to keep Lila Rossi away from him.

Speaking of, the girl was still talking. Going on and on, making up stories about how Marinette was lying about her, Chloé was just a bully, Kagami was possessive, and they were slowly turning Adrien against her through their own lies and manipulation. How if he wanted to keep her as his informant, he’d need to get them out of Adrien’s life so that the friendship could be salvaged.

“This will be our last correspondence, Miss Rossi,” Gabriel said. “Goodbye.”

With that, the camera was moving. Nathalie had turned and headed back toward the car. Gabriel wondered if the girl was stupid enough to say any threats aloud, but it seemed as though she was keeping quiet and fuming.

Once back in the car, Nathalie turned the tablet’s camera toward herself.

“She would make a good Akuma, sir,” Nathalie said.

“We both know that’s not why I did this,” Gabriel said.

“Of course,” she said. “But it might still give us an opportunity.”

Gabriel thought on that for a moment. On one hand, Lila’s anger could be useful to Hawkmoth, and he could keep her on a short enough leash that she couldn’t go after Adrien again. On the other hand…

“We have other plans, for now,” Gabriel said. “Better options. Should those not work out, then perhaps Miss Rossi can still be a useful pawn.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was telling my friend about this chapter, and she suggested that instead of hanging up on Lila, Nathalie just fuckin yeets the tablet with no warning because it's dramatic and Gabriel can afford another. 
> 
> I had to tell her about Mayura's transformation having her yeet her glasses.

**Author's Note:**

> So Lila's only half taken down. The Hero Team knows she's bad news, but everyone else is still fooled. They have a plan in place to keep themselves safe while they take her down.


End file.
